The invention relates to a harness assembly for supporting an animal on a treadmill's track. More particularly, the invention relates to a harness assembly that is detachably mounted to a treadmill for supporting animals of various sizes on top of the treadmill.
To remain in good health and to ensure longer and healthier lives, regular exercise is typically recommended. In particular, it is beneficial to engage in cardio-vascular exercise, such as calisthenics, aerobics or jogging, to receive the benefits of a work-out without over-exerting oneself. Regularly exercising not only keeps human in good health, but also animals.
Unfortunately, exercising animals is not an easy task. Unlike sports clubs and gymnasiums, which are readily available for human beings, there are very few places where animals can exercise under the watchful eyes of experienced trainers. As a result, people who own animals must either exercise their pets themselves, or hire someone else to exercise the pets.
One of the most popular ways for exercising pets is to go jogging or running with the pets while leashed, wherein the leash ensures that the pet jogs along with its human companion. Unfortunately, bad weather can make it difficult to go jogging or running, and prevent one from exercising their pets. To facilitate humans in exercising indoors, jogging machines (commonly known as treadmills), which simulate the experience of jogging or running outdoors, are readily available.
Some have suggested jogging machines for animals that resemble the treadmills used by humans. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,150 to Rhodes discloses an exercise assembly for dogs that comprises a support frame and a treadmill track mounted on the support frame, wherein the treadmill track moves along its length. U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,390 to Tribelhorn, Jr. discloses a treadmill device for exercising and conditioning a plurality of sheep simultaneously. U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,561 to Ruetenik discloses an animal exercising apparatus comprising a towing package, a manual scraper and container, removable side panel inserts, breast and butt restraining straps, and a variable speed motor.
While these devices may provide a means for exercising animals, they require considerable storage space. Additionally, these devices have complicated structures and are expensive to construct. Consequently, while these prior art units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general usage, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereinafter.